This episode of Women of Cacao features Lilla Toth—Hungarian chocolate educator, international chocolate judge, and tea–cacao pairing expert based in Vienna. As a member of the grand jury of the International Chocolate Awards and a trainer with the IICCT (International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting), Lilla pulls back the curtain on how the world’s best craft chocolates are actually judged.

Leila walks listeners through the behind-the-scenes structure of the International Chocolate Awards: regional and world competitions, blind tasting, palate calibration, the infamous lukewarm polenta, and why judges first ask a simple question—“Do I like this?”—before diving into complex flavor notes. She explains the Awards’ strict commitment to fully traceable cacao, no industrial couverture, and clean ingredient lists, and how this has driven real change across the industry.

From there, Leila explores three big trends shaping craft chocolate today:

• Purity – high-percentage and even 100% bars that are now genuinely pleasurable to eat

• Provenance – microlots, rare origins, and deeper relationships with farmers and origin makers

• Playfulness – alternative sugars and “milks,” drinking chocolate as serious as specialty coffee, bold gastronomic flavors, alcohol infusions, and experimental post-harvest methods inspired by specialty coffee fermentation

Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes balance, integrity, and respect—for the cacao, for the farmers, and for the culinary cultures behind each bar. Listeners are invited to grab a cup of cacao, settle into a quiet space, and enjoy an insider’s tour of the evolving world of craft chocolate, from judging forms and defect maps to the future of traceable, truly ethical cacao.